Wednesday, October 28, 2020

My Weekly Pull [139] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [114]

My Weekly Pull is something I do every Wednesday to show which comics I had pulled for me that week! If you're into comics, or you're looking to start, please join me! If you decide to do your own post, there's a link-up at the bottom. I would love to stop by and check it out!

Unkindness of Ravens #2 by Dan Panosian, Marianna Ignazzi
Wynd #5 by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas
Spider-Man Noir #5 (of 5) by Margaret Stohl, Juan Ferreyre, Dave Rapoza

Undiscovered Country #9 by Charles Soule, Scott Snyder, Giuseppe Camuncoli

Jacob's comics for the week!

Transformers Galaxies #11 by Brandon M. Easton, Andrew Griffith 
Doctor Doom #8 by Christopher Cantwell, Salvador Larroca
Savage Avengers #13 by Gerry Duggan, Adam Gorham, Valerio Giangiordano
Transformers '84 Secrets & Lies #4 by Simon Furman, Guido Guidi

Department of Truth #2 by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds
Amazing Spider-Man #51 by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley
Spawn #311 by Todd McFarlane, Ken Lashley, Francesco Mattina


Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature that's hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings. It highlights the upcoming releases we're really excited about reading! CWW is a spinoff of the feature Waiting on Wednesday (WoW), that was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

The Iron Raven (The Iron Fey: Evenfall, #1) by Julie Kagawa
Expected publication: February 9th 2020 by Inkyard Press

Synopsis (via Goodreads): You may have heard of me...

Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Prankster, joker, raven, fool… King Oberon’s right-hand jester from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The legends are many, but the truth will now be known as never before, as Puck finally tells his own story and faces a threat to the lands of Faery and the human world unlike any before.

With the Iron Queen Meghan Chase and her prince consort, Puck’s longtime rival Ash, and allies old and new by his side, Puck begins a fantastical and dangerous adventure not to be missed or forgotten.

AHHH! PUCK IS FINALLY GETTING HIS OWN BOOK! 

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

My Weekly Pull [138] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [113]

 
My Weekly Pull is something I do every Wednesday to show which comics I had pulled for me that week! If you're into comics, or you're looking to start, please join me! If you decide to do your own post, there's a link-up at the bottom. I would love to stop by and check it out!

Werewolf by Night #1 by Taboo, Benjamin Jackendoff, Scot Eaton, Mike McKone
Hidden Society #4 by Rafael Scavone, Rafael Albuquerque
Marvels X #6 by Jim Krueger, Well-Bee, Alex Ross

Family Tree #9 by Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester
You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy #1 by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, INJ Culbard
You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy #2 by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, INJ Culbard, Gabriel Ba

Daredevil #23 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 by Al Ewing, Marcio Takara, Rafael Albuquerque
Spider-Woman #5 by Karla Pacheco, Pere Perez, Mattia De Iulis, Skottie Young

Stranger Things Halloween Special One Shot by Michael Moreci, Todor Hristov
Firefly #21 by Greg Pak, Dan McDaid, Marc Aspinall
Jim Henson's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance #12 by Matthew Erman, Jo Migyeong, Kelly & Nichole Matthews

Jacob's comics for the week!

Stillwater by Chip Zdarsky, Ramon K. Perez, Mike Spicer
Venom #29 by Donny Cates, Luke Ross, Ryan Stegman
Amazing Spider-Man #50LR by Nick Spencer, Matthew Rosenberg, Federico Vicentini
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #110 by Sophie Campbell, Jodie Nishijima, Kevin Eastman

Ahhhh! There are so many comics this week! I feel like my TBR (both books and comics) are trying to crush me while we're in the middle of a move. 2020 has definitely not been good for my reading. ๐Ÿ˜…

I am really, really excited about Werewolf by Night! It's going to have Native American storytelling and mythology. Can you believe it? A Native Marvel character? I'm pumped! It's being written by Taboo (from the Black Eye Peas) who has always been a voice and an advocate for Indigenous People (his roots are that of the Shoshone tribe). 

There's also a new Umbrella Academy comic, and I'm kicking myself for missing the first issue! Luckily, they still had a few copies. I believe this series is going to focus on Klaus. 

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature that's hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings. It highlights the upcoming releases we're really excited about reading! CWW is a spinoff of the feature Waiting on Wednesday (WoW), that was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #3) by Jessica Townsend
Expected publication: October 27, 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers


Synopsis (via Goodreads): The captivating and heart-pounding third book in the instant New York Times bestselling Nevermoor series, as heroine Morrigan battles a new evil.

Morrigan Crow and her friends have survived their first year as proud scholars of the elite Wundrous Society, helped bring down the nefarious Ghastly Market, and proven themselves loyal to Unit 919. Now Morrigan faces a new, exciting challenge: to master the mysterious Wretched Arts, and control the power that threatens to consume her.

But a strange and frightening illness has taken hold of Nevermoor, turning infected Wunimals into mindless, vicious Unnimals on the hunt. As victims of the Hollowpox multiply, panic spreads. And with the city she loves in a state of fear, Morrigan quickly realizes it's up to her to find a cure for the Hollowpox, even if it will put her - and everyone in Nevermoor - in more danger than she ever imagined.


*Share your My Weekly Pull post! Please leave the direct link to your My Weekly Pull post and not just your blog's URL. Thank you for participating and happy reading!

Monday, October 19, 2020

The Emperor's Wolves by Michelle Sagara
[Blog Tour: Spotlight + Excerpt]

 
Halito! Welcome to the next stop on the blog tour for The Emperor's Wolves hosted by Harlequin & MIRA Books. I was originally slotted to review this book for the tour, but my parents were in the hospital (COVID-19) and I took some time off. Hopefully I will be able to get to it soon, since the story sounds amazing! Here's some information about the book:

About the book: 
Title: THE EMPEROR'S WOLVES
Author: Michelle Sagara
ISBN: 9780778309918
Pub. Date: 10/13/20
Publisher: MIRA Books

Set in the bestselling world of The Chronicles of Elantra, THE EMPEROR'S WOLVES is a prequel spin-off based on a fan-favorite character, and broadens the beloved fantasy world with another action-packed tale of intrigue and magic.

As an orphan scrounging in the lawless slums, young Severn Handred didn’t have the luxury of believing in anything beyond his own survival. Now he’s crossed the river and entered the heart of the empire: the city of Elantra. When Severn is spotted tailing some lawmen of the Hawks—a not insignificant feat to go otherwise undetected—the recruiter for the Imperial Wolves thinks he should join their ranks. The Wolves are a small, select group that work within the Halls of Law, reporting directly to the Eternal Emperor. Severn hopes to avoid the law—he certainly had no intention of joining it.

In order to become a wolf—even on probation—Severn must face the investigators most dreaded throughout the Empire: The Tha’alani, readers of minds. No secret is safe from their prying, no knowledge can remain buried. But Severn’s secret, never shared before, is not enough to prevent the Wolves from adopting him as one of their own. All men have secrets, after all. Severn’s first job will be joining a hunt, but between the treacherous politics of the High Court, the almost unnatural interest of one of the Lords, and those who wish long-held secrets to remain buried forever, the trick will be surviving it.


Author Bio:

Michelle Sagara is an author, book­seller, and lover of liter­ature based in Toronto. She writes fantasy novels and lives with her husband and her two children, and to her regret has no dogs. Reading is one of her life-long passions, and she is some­times paid for her opinions about what she’s read by the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. No matter how many book­shelves she buys, there is Never Enough Shelf space. Ever.

Where you can find Michelle:

Excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

ELLUVIAN OF DANARRE DID NOT LIKE THRONE rooms.

        For much of his life, throne rooms and audience chambers had been a grueling exercise in humiliation; humiliation was always the outcome when one had no power. His presence in a throne room was meant to emphasize that utter lack of power. He was called. He came. He stood—or knelt—at the foot of the platform that led to the raised throne.
        There he had remained, while the disappointment of his lord made itself known.
        There were significant differences between this throne room, this audience chamber, and the throne room of his youth. An act of war had given him a freedom he had never before possessed.
        And the actor in that action occupied the current throne as a force of nature, uneasily caged by masks of civility and mundane governance. Elluvian had been announced; he had been given permission—or an order—to approach the Imperial Presence. His steps across the runner that covered worked stone were as loud as his breathing.
        Before him sat the Eternal Emperor, Dariandaros of the Ebon Flight. Neither name had been used by any of the Emperor’s subjects for centuries. Elluvian, however, remembered. The only freedom he had ever known had occurred because of war. At the end of the third war, the Dragon Emperor had demanded oaths of allegiance from each and every Barrani adult who had survived it and intended to live within the boundaries of the Empire.
       Elluvian had offered his willingly. He had offered it without reservation. Had the Emperor demanded Elluvian swear a blood oath, a binding oath, he would have done so without hesitation. The Emperor did not demand his True Name. Anything else, he could live with. Nonbinding oaths were just words.
        He knelt.
        “Rise,” the Emperor said. The undercurrents of his voice filled the vaulted ceilings above with a distinctly draconic rumble. Elluvian obeyed, meeting the Emperor’s gaze for the first time; the Dragon’s eyes were orange, but the orange was tinged with gold.
        No discussion between Emperor and subject was private. The Imperial guard and the Imperial aides were omnipresent; an Imperial secretary or three were positioned by the throne to take notes where notes were necessary.
        “Approach the throne.”
        Elluvian was aware that of all the Barrani—each forced to offer an oath of allegiance to the Emperor directly—only a handful were allowed to approach the throne. It was not considered, by most of his kin, an honor. Were any of those disapproving kin to be present, they would have obeyed regardless. Just as Elluvian did.
        The Imperial guards stepped back.
        “You look peaked, old friend,” the Emperor said, when the guards were standing as far from the Emperor as they were willing to go.
        “You did not summon me here to discuss my health.”
        “Ah, no. But I have been informed that I lack certain social graces, and it seems incumbent on me to practice.”
        Elluvian raised a brow. His eyes were blue; Barrani blue denoted many things. At the moment, he was annoyed. Annoyed and tired.
        “Very well. The Halls of Law seem to be having some minor difficulty.” When Elluvian failed to reply, the Emperor continued. “In particular, and of interest to you, the difficulty involves the Wolves.” Of course it did. The Halls of Law were divided into three distinct divisions: the Hawks, the Swords, and the Wolves. The only division of relevance to Elluvian was the Wolves.
        Elluvian exhaled. “Again.”
        “Indeed.” The Emperor’s eyes remained orange; the orange, however, did not darken toward red, the color of Dragon anger.
        Elluvian bowed his head for one long moment. His eyes, he knew, were now the blue of anger and frustration. In a life considered, by the youthful Barrani and Dragon kin, long, failure was not the worst thing to happen to him. But consistent failure remained humiliating—and no Barrani wished their failures dissected by Dragons. He struggled to contain emotion, to submerge it.
        In this, too, he failed.
       “I have never understood why you wish to create this division of mortal Wolves. We have power structures developed over a longer stretch of time, and we have not descended to barbarism or savagery. Those who have power rule those who do not.”
        “That is what the animals do. Those with power rule those with less. We are not animals.”
        Elluvian’s mood was dark enough, the sting of failure dragging it down in a spiral that had no good end. Humans, who comprised the vast majority of mortals within the Empire, were one step up from animals, with their unchanging, fixed eye colors, their ability to propagate, their short, inconsequential lives.     
        “I do not understand the Empire you are attempting to build. I have never understood it, and the centuries I have spent observing it have not surrendered answers.” The admission of ignorance was costly.
        For a man who professed not to want to rule by power, his form of communication was questionable. He commanded, and those who had survived the wars and sworn personal loyalty to the Emperor—most Barrani, given the sparsity of Dragons by that time—obeyed.
        Elluvian had been summoned. The summons was, in theory, an invitation, but Elluvian was not naive. The oath of service had weight and meaning to both the Emperor who had demanded it and the man who had offered that vow.
        Mortals were not a threat to either the Barrani or the Dragons, but many of the Imperial systems of governance—the Emperor’s word—were most concerned with those very mortals. The Emperor had created the Halls of Law, with Swords and Hawks to police the mortals who vastly outnumbered those who rose above time and age. He had also created the Wolves.
        “No,” the Emperor replied.

Excerpted from The Emperor’s Wolves by Michelle Sagara, Copyright © 2020 by Michelle Sagara Published by MIRA Books

*this post has been backdated

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

My Weekly Pull [137] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [112]

My Weekly Pull is something I do every Wednesday to show which comics I had pulled for me that week! If you're into comics, or you're looking to start, please join me! If you decide to do your own post, there's a link-up at the bottom. I would love to stop by and check it out!

Seven Secrets #3 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo
Avengers #37 by Jason Aaron, Javi Garron, Matteo Scalera
Once & Future #12 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora 

Jacob's comics for the week!

Usagi Yojimbo #13 by Stan Sakai
Amazing Spider-Man #50 by Nick Spencer, Patrick Gleason
Bill & Ted Are Doomed #2 by Evan Dorkin, Roger Langridge, Sarah Dyer

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature that's hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings. It highlights the upcoming releases we're really excited about reading! CWW is a spinoff of the feature Waiting on Wednesday (WoW), that was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

The Dark Library by Cyrille Martinez, Joseph Patrick Stancil (Translation) 
Expected publication: October 20th 2020 by Coach House Books

Synopsis (via Goodreads): In Cyrille Martinez's library, the books are alive: not just their ideas or their stories, but the books themselves. Meet the Angry Young Book, who has strong opinions about who reads what and why. He's tired of people reading bestsellers, so he places himself on the desks of those who might appreciate him. Meet the Old Historian who mysteriously vanished from the stacks. Meet the Blue Librarian, the Mauve Librarian, the Yellow Librarian, and spend a day with the Red Librarian trying to banish coffee cups and laptops.

Then one day there are no empty desks anywhere in the Great Library. A great horde of student workers has descended, and they will scan every single book in the library: the much-borrowed, the neglected, the popular, the obscure. What will happen to the library then? Will it still be necessary?

The Dark Library is a theoretical fiction, a meditation on what libraries mean in our digital world. Has the act of reading changed? What is a reader? A book? Martinez, a librarian himself, has written a love letter to the urban forest of the dark, wild library, where ideas and stories roam free.


*Share your My Weekly Pull post! Please leave the direct link to your My Weekly Pull post and not just your blog's URL. Thank you for participating and happy reading!

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
[Blog Tour: Spotlight + Giveaway]

 
Halito! Welcome to the next stop on the Beyond the Ruby Veil blog tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. I was originally slotted to review this book for the tour, but my parents were in the hospital (COVID-19) and I took some time off. Hopefully I will be able to get to it soon, since the story sounds amazing! However, I still get to share this lovely spotlight post with you, AND there's a giveaway at the bottom! Thanks for stopping by! For the full tour schedule, please visit the Rockstar Book Tours website.

About the Book:
Title: BEYOND THE RUBY VEIL (Beyond the Ruby Veil, #1)
Author: Mara Fitzgerald
Pub. Date: October 6, 2020
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 40
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Buy a SIGNED Copy!

A dark, queer YA fantasy that's perfect for fans of the Three Dark Crowns series and Wicked Saints. After Emanuela Ragno kills the one person in Occhia who can create water, she must find a way to save her city from dying of thirst.

Emanuela Ragno always gets what she wants. With her daring mind and socialite schemes, she refuses to be the demure young lady everyone wants her to be. In her most ambitious move yet, she's about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn't care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn't want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she'll have it all.

But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In the city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has given themselves up for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She's kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years.

When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back...and kills her. Now Occhia has no one to make their water and no idea how to get more. In a race against time, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the secrets of the watercrea's magic and find a way to save their people-no matter what it takes.

"Perfect for fans of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince and Emily A. Duncan's Wicked Saints...a must-purchase for YA collections."—School Library Journal

"A fast-paced debut that reaches spectacularly bloody heights."—Kirkus

"Fitzgerald populates her story with fierce women who rule cities and seek glory."—Booklist


About Mara:

Mara Fitzgerald writes YA fantasy about unlikable female characters who ruin everything. She is a biologist by day and spends entirely too much time looking at insects under a microscope. She was born near Disney World and now lives near Graceland, which is almost as good. Beyond the Ruby Veil is her debut novel. 

Where you can find her:

Pre Order the book and get some awesome swag!

HOW TO ENTER 
YOU WILL RECEIVE:
  • One signed bookplate
  • Art prints drawn by Audrey Estok with matte velvet-touch finish
  • At least 1 random sticker of eyeballs
RULES:
Giveaway Details: 
3 winners will receive a finished copy of BEYOND THE RUBY VEIL, US Only.

*this post has been backdated

Friday, October 9, 2020

A Golden Fury by Samantha Cahoe
[Blog Tour: Review Spotlight]

 
Halito! Welcome to the next stop on the Golden Fury blog tour hosted by St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books. I was originally slotted to review this book for the tour, but my parents were in the hospital (COVID-19) and I took some time off. Hopefully I will be able to get to it soon, since the story sounds amazing! Here's some information about the book: 

About the book: Set in eighteenth century England, Samantha Cohoe’s debut novel, A GOLDEN FURY (Wednesday Books; October 13, 2020), follows a young alchemist as she tries to save the people she loves from the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone. The streets of London and Oxford come to life as this historical fantasy unravels. Weaving together an alluring story of magic and danger, Samantha’s debut has her heroine making messy decisions as she toes the line between good and evil while it becomes blurred.

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.

While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists

But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.

A GOLDEN FURY and the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone will haunt you long after the final page. 


About the Author:

Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.

Where you can find her: Twitter | Instagram 

Wednesday Books: Twitter | Instagram 

Buy the book: Link 


*A Nerd Daily YA Debut to Watch Out for in 2020

“Sharply written with a crackling, compassionately determined heroine, A Golden Fury is a vivid ride through eighteenth century Europe with darkness and dread creeping at its corners. Utterly enchanting.” - Emily A. Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints 

"An engaging concoction of fantasy, romance, and historical fiction." - Booklist 

"Cohoe situates the supernatural among the historical, referencing the French Revolution and the Enlightenment while...keeping a sense of urgency as Thea struggles with the magical, demonic pull of the Stone." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 

"The attention to detail in the story is excellent. …Thea herself is a confident lead with a strong voice. A solid fantasy to flesh out the world of alchemy that most readers know only from 'Harry Potter.'" - School Library Journal 

“Cohoe transmutes the legend of the Philosopher's Stone into a dark, intoxicating tale of ambition, obsession, and sacrifice. Prepare for a magic that will consume you.” - Rosamund Hodge, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beauty and Bright Smoke, Cold Fire 

“Steeped in mystery and magic, Samantha Cohoe’s A Golden Fury immerses readers in beautifully rendered world where magic and science mix, and where the intoxication of power can be deadly. Whip-smart Thea is a heroine readers will root for.” - Lisa Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Magician

*this post has been backdated